NCJ Number
123982
Editor(s)
C R Pfeffer
Date Published
1989
Length
235 pages
Annotation
This book presents divergent research that uses newly developed methodologies for understanding suicide among adolescents and young adults; implications of these studies for preventing juvenile suicide are highlighted.
Abstract
The book opens with reviews of research on the psychosocial characteristics of youth who committed suicide. The first investigator to apply the psychological autopsy method to youth suicide describes this technique. His research defines features that distinguish juvenile suicide victims from a comparison group of nonsuicidal juveniles. Another study uses medical examiners' records to characterize gender, age, and temporal differences in juvenile suicides. Data from studies that used large epidemiological samples present a perspective on trends in risk factors. One study examines characteristics of epidemics of juvenile suicides, those that cluster in time and space. Other research examines the effects of mass media news stories on fluctuations in juvenile suicide rates. A study addresses variation in youth suicide rates that are influenced by the presentation of suicidal models depicted in television fictional accounts of juvenile suicide. Also reviewed are a variety of studies that suggest life-event stresses and specific forms of psychopathology among relatives heighten the risk for suicide among youth. Chapter references, subject index.